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Monday, April 29, 2013

Banana Honey Muffins for #MuffinMonday

We are coming up on six months in the desert and it occurred to me that I haven’t really shared that much about life here. At least not like I feel I did when we were in Cairo. I guess it is that Dubai is such a modern city that it doesn’t feel that different in many ways, from other places we have lived. My neighborhood is surrounded by vast desert wasteland with little in the way of plants besides natural scrub.

But, inside the walls of this gated community, we enjoy green lawns and flowering plants in abundance.

The view from my kitchen window.

A different angle of the backyard.

Supermarkets have everything we need, including bacon and cheese, and even some things we just want like fresh flowers, Wilton baking supplies and Jif peanut butter. I know, I know, some of you are saying that bacon and cheese are “wants” not “needs” but then you must not know me very well yet. :) After Cairo with its limited supply of green leafy vegetables, I am working on not getting spoiled by choice and trying to choose fresh foods that haven’t been flown in from the other side of the world with a long carbon footprint to match.

Overwhelmed for choice.

Every item is labeled with the country of its provenance, which is very helpful.

One thing I did get in Egypt and for which I am very grateful, were two bottles of wonderful honey, which were a gift from the Orthodox priests we visited on a charity trip. I haven’t found anything to match it here yet. It’s lovely runny stuff, produced by religious bees. (Just kidding.) But it does make delicious muffins. I reminisce with gratitude every time I use it.

In a separate small bowl, mix together your first four topping ingredients until smooth. Add in the honey and stir well.

Pour your egg/milk mixture into your dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.

Divide the muffin batter between the muffin cups.

Top each cup of batter with a scoop of the topping and spread it out just a little with your spoon.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The topping will form a natural slightly crunchy glaze on each muffin.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street, a culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop Anuradha a quick line to join her on this journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week. Make sure to go and check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with this week!Plus learn all you ever need to know about muffins, right here at Muffin 101.

Stacy, thanks for a look into your neighborhood. Love that you used blessed honey in these muffins. And the bananas are still on the counter (my son left them) so, it'll be muffins for an after school snack today!

I love it when you take us on trips and then make something with bananas because it makes the hubs very happy when I make it. You know we love bananas here. I suppose your honey is WAY more pure than any other because of the religious bees? Hee hee!

I have a ton more photos of the supermarket, Lisa, but I didn't want to overwhelm the post with them. We truly have an abundance here. I have been in small towns in Texas and Louisiana so I know what you mean and that's why I am working on a constant attitude of gratitude. Thank you for your kind words.

Cooking for people I love, creating deliciousness out of fresh ingredients, browsing through cookbooks for inspiration, perusing grocery shelves for choice items and writing about my expat life enriched by food. That's what I do here.